There’s been quite a bit of news about Philips’ foray into consumer 3D printing, but what is it all about?
Philips is a gigantic company that produces a wide range of consumer and industrial components. You almost certainly used a Philips product this week, whether you realized it or not.
The news is that Philips — or rather their Czech operations — is launching something called “Fixables”. It’s basically an online repository of 3D printable parts related to their products. They explain:
“Fixables is a collection of 3D printable spare parts for Philips products – designed to make repairs easy for anyone. Simply download the printable file, follow the instructions, and print the spare part on any 3D printer.”
OK, this sounds good. But there are some curious aspects:
- This is targeted at Czech customers.
- There is only a single 3D model in the repo (a blade comb).
The repository is housed on Prusa Research’s popular Printables site. Prusa Research happens to be based in the Czech Republic, so that makes sense somehow.
Why only in Czechia? They write:
“If this pilot is successful, we plan to expand both the number of available spare parts in the form of open 3D printing files and their availability in other countries. All 3D printing files will be available as open source, meaning that anyone can access them. If the parts are printed with the materials we recommend, they should continue to function properly. Our goal is to accommodate consumers who prefer to repair their product and extend the life of our products.”
And why only one 3D model?
“We are currently asking consumers to let us know which parts they would be interested in. This will help us prioritize the best possible solutions based on real needs. We are reaching out to all enthusiastic repairers and 3D printing enthusiasts to join us and help move the project forward. Together, we will enable consumers to repair and replace parts of their Philips personal care products, instead of having to buy new ones. If there are specific parts you would like to see available, please let us know!”
This is a very different approach from the few ventures into consumer spare part 3D printing, such as those from IKEA. Here it seems that Philips is letting the customers drive the bus.
The question is, where will they drive the bus to? The venture could fail miserably if no one steps forward to request parts.
I’m also very curious about which parts would actually be permitted to be printed. Many manufacturers use their spare parts process as a huge moneymaker: they’d rather you spend US$39 on that replacement oven switch than print it yourself. Would there be parts that Philips does not want printed because they make revenue from them?
Another issue that hasn’t been mentioned is liability. Suppose there is a part printed from Fixables that is somehow critical and then fails because of printing issues? Who’s liable? Would these parts be not provided by Fixables?
What if a third party took the open source 3D model, printed it with a different 3D print process not easily accessible by consumers (say, metal or ceramic) and then sold them? Would Philips want a cut? How can that work with an open source license?
As you can see, there are more issues the deeper you look at the concept of printing your own parts. It sounds easy, but from the corporate side there is lots of potential for bad things to happen.
Nevertheless, it’s still a good thing that Philips is performing this marketing experiment. I am very curious to see how it works out.
Via Philips (Czech)
